Take back shoes off?

T

thermidor08

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 December 2008
Messages
82
Location
by the sea
Visit site
My 8yr old tb has had numerous ligament problems over the last year and a half, always front legs! Collateral ligament damage May 10 then March this year diagnosed with psd in both forelimbs :-o
Treatment went well and was coming back into work slowly although had never come fully sound on right fore when he went lame again :-( having been scanned again it is his suspensory in that leg, for various reasons we wont have surgery so have decided to retire him at least for the time being so he will be stabled over night and turned out in small paddock daily, there is very little grass in there and can get stony if he churns it up! I feel it would be worthwhile taking back shoes off (he has hock spavins too) but having been shod since we've had him am a little worried! Vet and farrier are happy to see how he goes, has anyone done anything similar, particularly with a tb?
Sorry for the essay!
 
In all honesty, id whip all 4 off! Have u looked in to going barefoot at all? (don't want to go on if you already know!)
If not, Google 'Rockley Farm' - there's a blog and an official website. Also look at getting the book 'Feet First' by Nic Barker & Sarah Braithwaite.
And then there's the UKNHCP forum - if you post your story on there, they'll happily offer advice.
Good luck. I've gone barefoot with my 3 & the changes are amazing! One had a recurring ddft injury & was in heartbars for 3 years, but was constantly lame. Barefoot is the best thing we've ever done. :-)
 
I'd agree with all shoes off (but then I would;)). It's highly likely you'd find tremendous gains in the horse's soundness if the damage is down to hoof balance.

But if it's too big a step right now, then just taking the hinds off is a great idea.

It'd be interesting (to a hoof geek like myself) to see pics of his hooves.
 
If you were to peruse Rockley's blog you can put 'collateral' in the search box and see the hits.

Nic Barker has plenty of experience rehabing this injury.

Baliey W is a horse who springs to mind;)
 
When my tb retired due to arthritis in her hocks getting too much for work...(she did have treatment a few years back but what with some other issues I decided to retire her) - she had had remedial chose on back for ages but in discussion wit hmy farrier decided for her backs t ocome off. In fact he advised it - she would find her own natural balance without them and her feet would alter to suit her needs. We did try her fronts off but she would get too foot sore and just couldnt do without them.
i have to say I would have done it years ago probably if Id known how much better she would be - she used to cut herself, bruise herself, knock herself with shoes on all the time - also took boots off that she used to wear in the field..same thing! Keep it simple may be a good motto for tbs really!!
 
I'm discovering that despite their standard diets of competition mixes and conditioning cubes etc that TBs are actually as sensitive to sugar as their cob counterparts. Hence why they become so very footy when barefoot.

They often need as careful management as a cresty shetland :o
 
I took my TB's shoes off this year. I did her backs first at easter and then her fronts at the begining of August. I did wonder if I had done the right thing, but she is now sound and moving better than she ever did and we discovered today, far more balanced in the school.

I have had to make sure she is on a low sugar diet with added mag ox, but I don't regret it for a moment.
 
Thankyou everyone for your advice :-) I wasn't sure about posting! I will take some pics of his feet and post asap. He is on Pure Easy and has good quality hay/haylage and is a very good doer for a tb! He is a bit overweight but i am happy for him to go into winter like this! I have thought a lot about going barefoot but worry about him coping! He is sore standing on concrete without a front shoe when being shod! He is fine on backs so we'll see how he goes. I do know about Rockley and if we hadn't used all his insurance on diagnostic & treatment would seriously consider it but i just don't have the money to send him there :-(
 
He is sore standing on concrete without a front shoe when being shod!
Click to expand...

This is always misleading - if they are sore doing this it is because the hoof is flexing under load and they are severely restricted in their ability to do flex with shoes. Also when he has one bare foot down, the farrier will have the other so you compound it by weighting that bare foot!

It would be interesting to leave him for a day and see if he was still "sore" on concrete. I bet he wouldn't be.
 
Very interesting brucea, makes sense. Will start with back shoes off and if all goes well fronts will come off too, will look into possibility of getting a barefoot specialist onboard too :-)
 
I took the leap of faith nearly six years ago and took all four shoes off my TB. I made sure I had four Easyboot Epic boots with pads first and took it slow and steady. He soon adjusted and I was riding him again after being retired for the past year, and now and I am so proud of his feet, there's no comparison to his shod ones.
You must get the diet right - that is get your head round the diet, it's a completely different way of thinking. You said he's on good quality haylage - he needs to be on (dust free) what you would call poor quality ad lib hay or haylage i.e. cut as late in the season as possible - and get used to studying feed analysis.
Look for DE Mj/Kg or Digestible Energy, sugar and starch should be less than 10%.
If he's a good doer, you should have no problems keeping his weight on.
The above diet is what my TB lives on and his coat is absolutely gleaming and he's 23 now. He's a picture of health after years on this diet so don't worry about him losing weight.
 
muff747 unfortunately I cant really swap the hay & haylage he is on as he is allergic to everything else and comes up in horrendous hives almost immediately :-( but the stuff he has now is not rich just a good quality one (dust free etc)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top